Let Spin are the tight British punk-jazz quartet formed in 2012 by Led Bib saxophonist Chris Williams and former Acoustic Ladyland bass guitarist Ruth Goller, with the similarly adventurous Manchester duo of guitarist Moss Freed and Beats and Pieces drummer Finlay Panter. The word was out then that they were an electrifying live band whose grooves could wake the dead but a less imposing one on record, and their new album, Let Go, doesn’t entirely dispel that impression – though Freed’s full sound and harmonic subtlety and Goller’s rounded tone and springy attack constantly give the underpinnings of the music shape and character. Let Go’s strengths are guitar-led Bill Frisellian tone-poems that build to bagpipey sax anthems, laments pitched against metallic guitar chords like the steadily boiling Killing Our Dreams, and Ladylandesque rhythm-driven pieces like Rotation, full of spat-out sax yelps and throbbing basslines. The journeys to big finales take routes that get familiar after a while, but Let Go is a colourful flyer for a very hot live band.
